1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing system that performs information processing in accordance with input operations by a user. In particular, the present invention relates to an information processing system that captures user operations, transfers data, and performs remote operations in a remote site in accordance with the user operations.
In detail, the present invention relates to an information processing system that reproduces, in a remote site, an operation in which a user applied an external force to an object with a tool. In particular, the present invention relates to an information processing system that reproduces, in a remote site, a movement of an object caused by an external force that a user applied to an object with a tool.
2. Description of the Related Art
Virtual technology and remote technology are applied to learning of special skills such as medical skills and to operations in special or dangerous environments such as microcosms, oceans, and nuclear reactors.
In virtual technology, a method of providing three-dimensional kinesthetic and tactile sensation for an object, by using a haptic device in an environment that does not allow direct touching to the object, is used. For example, kinesthetic and tactile sensation is generally provided by using a pen-shaped haptic device having a serial link. A user holds an end portion of the pen-shaped device so as to provide a moment of force with three to six axes (see, for example, http://www.sensable.com/haptic-phantom-desktop.htm (as of Aug. 4, 2008)). In order to overcome the insufficient rigidity of a serial link, a haptic device that uses a parallel link so as to provide a moment of force with three to six axes has been proposed (see, for example, Japanese Patent No. 3329443). Moreover, a virtual environment system that uses a lightweight and wearable device worn on a wrist of an operator so as to provide kinesthetic sensation to the operator in a virtual environment has been proposed (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-304246).
In remote technology, master/slave-type manipulators, which allow a user to operate a humanoid robot in a remote site as if he/she were on the site, are generally used. Such manipulators are used in remote medical or remote-control heavy equipment.
For example, a surgical robot system, which includes a master controller having a manual input device that is movable in an operation space of an operator/controller; a manipulator including a slave arm having a surgical end effecter; at least one drive servo being operatively connected to the end effecter, the at least one drive servo moving the end effecter in a surgical operation space in accordance with a slave control signal; an imaging system including an image capture device having a movable field of view of the surgical operation space, the imaging system generating a position signal representing the field of view; and a processor that connects the master controller to the slave arm, the processor generating the slave control signal by mapping an input device in the operation space to the end effector in the surgical operation space by using conversion that is derived from the position signal from the imaging system, has been proposed (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-261956).
In the remote technology using a master/slave manipulator with which a user or an operator performs a remote operation of a robot, when the user performs an operation so as to apply an external force to an object with a tool, an end effecter on an arm of the robot holds a similar tool so as to follow the movement of an arm of the user. However, reproduction of the movement is very difficult, because it is necessary to reproduce not only the operation by the user on the tool but also the movement of the object.
For example, a system, in which a multijoint structure is attached to a human body so as to obtain a positional relationship with respect to a reference point and shapes of the head, hands, feet, arms, and legs in real-time when he/she performs a golf swing or the like, transmits the data to the outside, such as a remote site, by using wired or wireless communication, so that a robot or a machinery in the outside is controlled, has been proposed (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2008-55544). Although the system is capable of reproducing a movement, such as a golf swing, of a human in a remote site by using an outside robot, what kind of movement of the ball can be made by the golf swing is not described in the document.
A golf simulation game, in which a remote controlled golfer plays a golf on a small golf course, has been proposed (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (Translation of PCT Application) No. 08-509643). However, although the game reproduces a movement of a golfer in a virtual environment such as a small golf course, the game does not reproduce the movement of a golf ball on the remote golf course.